This is from Longchen Rabjanpa,
A 14th century Buddhist monk.
Out of the soil of friendliness,
Metta grows the beautiful bloom of compassion,
Karuna.
Watered with tears of joy,
Mudita.
Under the cool shade of the tree of equanimity,
Upeka.
Out of the soil of friendliness grows the beautiful bloom of compassion,
Watered by tears of joy,
Under the cool shade of the tree of equanimity.
So this begins our two week exploration of the Brahma Viharas.
And these,
As you can tell from that poem,
These are considered sublime and virtuous attitudes.
And what really speaks to me,
And I'm really delighted that Kurt shared this poem this morning,
Because I'd like to speak a moment about cultivation.
The definition of cultivation is a process of tilling and loosening soil to prepare it for planting.
That's the definition.
So when we're looking at these qualities,
These divine qualities within us,
Can you imagine or feel these qualities as a cultivation?
And the first step,
The first steps are to loosen the soil.
And how we loosen the soil is through this nourishment that we do.
The quiet often is the nourishment,
That stillness is the nourishment.
So we're cultivating these qualities.
And sometimes you may have noticed that the earth is really hard,
And these qualities don't penetrate easily.
But with practice,
The practice of sitting still,
And seeing and being with what's here,
We're watering the soil and feeding it with mindfulness.
It's said that whatever we think about frequently becomes the inclination of our mind.
Whatever we think about frequently,
This is like again from the Dhammapada,
All experiences preceded by mind,
Led by mind,
Made by mind,
Made by mind.
This has such huge significance for us.
Huge.
And in daily life,
You know,
If I send well wishes to the contractor who dropped something on my floor and damaged the wood floor,
And then didn't take responsibility,
In fact blamed us for the damage on the floor.
If I wish him well,
Wish his family well,
Wish his family well,
Knowing he's doing the best he can,
Knowing that his body is subject to the same aches and pains as mine,
Maybe even more so,
Because the physical labor that he does in his work every day.
If I wish him well,
That he too is like me,
Every day,
Facing the potential to get in my car and not see my luck once again,
Facing that same potential,
Seeing that we're the same,
He and I.
When I can do that,
All the divine qualities drop in like rain.
They drop in and nourish my soul.
So the practice of loving kindness,
This first foundational piece of the Brahma Viharas,
These divine qualities,
You know,
The practice of loving kindness is a practice of intention.
So what are you intending for yourself?
This is an important question.
What are your intentions for yourself?
And can you have those same intentions for others?
And it can be really,
Really simple.
May I be grateful for this life.
May I be grateful for all those who are in my life.
May I be grateful for the lessons given to me,
Including my errors and my faults.
May I be grateful that I have a heart to serve,
A heart to serve.
What are we serving to our communities,
To our families and friends?
In spiritual community like this,
We get to see our hearts that serve in the sharing that happens after practice.
You know,
Sometimes we share about what prevents the heart from serving.
And sometimes the gratitude and love that pours out of you is your serving heart speaking.
May I be grateful that I have a heart to serve.
So the Brahma Vihara of metta,
Of loving kindness,
The way that it works is we're using words and phrases to evoke a quality of friendliness,
To incline the mind in the direction of kindness.
Words are powerful and thoughts are powerful.
And if a thought arises,
You may not even notice how quickly an emotion can be born in relationship to that thought.
So what this practice is doing is using thought to evoke these beautiful,
Wholesome qualities of care,
Expressing wishes of kindness for yourself and for others.
And this can be summed up in a line by an old samurai poem,
I make my mind my friend.
I make my mind my friend.
And sometimes we need people in our lives who really have made their minds,
Their friend,
You know,
People who radiate goodwill and loving care to everyone they meet.
And they might be well known,
Like the Dalai Lama or Mother Teresa,
Nelson Mandela,
These are exemplars of loving kindness.
They have this loving capacity for care that's really exceptional.
It's inspiring.
They may be teachers that we've had that really manifest this kind of care.
I'm so grateful for the teachers that I've had.
Or they may just be ordinary people in our life that have this quality,
This benevolence of goodwill.
It's astonishing to see that they astonish us with their care.
The Dalai Lama said,
I tried to meet everyone as an old friend.
Can you imagine?
Like what a fantastic way to be in the world.
So generous,
You know,
And all these people that we admire,
That have this quality,
Their goodwill,
Their kindness.
It's not because of their position in the world,
Or their wealth,
Or their intelligence or status.
It's simply because we're all just fellow human beings.
It's really simple.
It's a wish for all beings to be happy and to be at peace.
And what makes it sublime or exceptional,
What makes it a Brahma Vihara,
Is it's not just limited to the people that are close to us.
You know,
We might not feel close to everyone on the planet,
But loving kindness has this power to express without distinction,
Because it's just a simple wish.
May you live happily.
May you live at ease.
We can include that and all people in that wish.
How we feel is not dependent on what other people do or how they are.
It's entirely up to us.
All things are created by mind,
Led by mind.
And this is tremendously empowering.
It's the practice of mindfulness externally.
You know,
We can be mindful of other people's speech and see how it is,
See it for what it is.
We don't have to be reactive.
And not only do we not have to react,
But we can meet it with a mind of compassion for their well-being.
It's about flexibility,
Metta.
You know,
Loving kindness,
A flexible mind.
Having flexibility is really supportive in our mindfulness practice.
Is it possible to meet every experience as an old friend?
Maybe not at first,
But as we get curious about whatever is happening,
We can remember,
You know,
May I be grateful for the lessons given to me,
Including my own errors and faults.
We can treat our inner experience with that friendliness.
May I be grateful for this life.
So this quality of loving kindness has the power to make our minds and our hearts soft and pliable,
Like tilling the soil so that loving kindness can absorb into our bones.
And what you may find at first is that we just become more patient with ourselves,
More caring for our own internal experience.
And that in turn allows us to be more patient with other people.
So it's this cultivation practice that we do,
That we can cultivate these qualities of care.
Some years ago,
Joseph Goldstein,
Who is a founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Berry,
Massachusetts,
And was really instrumental in bringing Vipassana meditation to the West.
He wrote about a Tibetan teacher that he had,
Who was considered by many to be an enlightened being.
And this is what he described that the teacher said during a teaching.
So the teacher said,
I would like to pass on a little bit of advice,
Advice I give to everyone.
Relax,
Just relax.
Be nice to each other.
As you go through life,
Simply be kind to people.
Try to help them rather than hurt them.
Try to get along with them rather than fall out with them.
With that,
I will leave you with all my good wishes.
